Game Awards 2026

On Nov 13, 2026 Phantom Blade Zero was eligible for The Game Awards 2026 but not yet nominated, because the nominees had not been named. The show's site says they come in mid-November, the ceremony is on Dec 10, 2026, and the game's Oct 29 release beat the Nov 20 cutoff by 22 days. We think it gets at least three nominations.

Phantom Blade Zero is not nominated for The Game Awards 2026 yet, and neither is any other game: on Nov 13, 2026 the show's site still listed its 2026 nominees as "coming mid-November", four weeks before the ceremony on Thursday, Dec 10, 2026. It is eligible. The rules ask that a game be "commercially available to customers on or before Friday, November 20, 2026, at 9 p.m. PT" (The Game Awards' FAQ), and Phantom Blade Zero came out on Oct 29, 22 days inside that line. It goes to the jury with an OpenCritic average of 88 from 85 critics, 93% of whom recommend it, as that page read on Nov 13.

0:24 Some of the people who vote with their coverage made up their minds early. Fextralife's guide opens his Oct 9, 2026 preview video, recorded after about ten hours with the game, by saying he wants to explain "why I think this game is probably going to be my personal game of the year."

Next: every review score and award so far, with dates, our other calls and when each can be checked or the player numbers behind its case.

The dates that matter

Eligibility cutoff	Friday, Nov 20, 2026, 9 p.m. PT
Phantom Blade Zero's release	Oct 29, 2026: eligible, with 22 days to spare
Nominees announced	"Mid-November"; no day or hour published by Nov 13
Fan voting closes	Wednesday, Dec 9, 2026, 6 p.m. PT
The show	Thursday, Dec 10, 2026, Peacock Theater, Los Angeles; opening act at 7:30 p.m. ET (4:30 p.m. PT)
Players' Voice	A separate fan vote; games must ship by Nov 30, 2026

Every line but the second is the show's own FAQ or front page, read on Nov 13, 2026. Last year's list came on Monday, Nov 17, 2025 (Game Informer); the same Monday this year is Nov 16, and that is the day we expect, though the show has promised only the middle of the month.

The late cutoff is not a courtesy to Phantom Blade Zero. Grand Theft Auto 6 is due on Nov 19, one day inside it, as Insider Gaming noted on Oct 15, 2026, which puts the year's biggest release on the same ballots.

Who decides

Nominees in most categories are "chosen by an international jury of over 100 global media and influencer outlets". Each outlet lists its top five per category, and "the five games that appear on the most ballots are put forth as nominees", six or more if there is a tie. Winners come from "a blended vote between the voting jury (90%) and public fan voting (10%)". Fans vote on the show's site, and fans in China vote through Bilibili.

Two things follow for this game. The fan vote is a tenth of the result, so a large home audience cannot carry a category without the jury. And a jury of outlets is the same crowd whose reviews are already counted, which is why the review average is the best early signal there is.

Its case on Nov 13

Reviews. 88 on OpenCritic from 85 critics, 93% recommending, read on Nov 13, 2026. Four days earlier the same page showed 89 from 75 critics and 95%, so the ten newest reviews pulled it down a point (Reception and Previews has every reading since Oct 26).
Sales. S-Game's account posted on Nov 2, 2026 that the game "has sold over 4 million copies in just 72 hours" (Insider Gaming); it has published no later figure.
Players. A Steam peak of 833,479 on Nov 1, 2026, by Steam's own hourly count (Steam Player Count).
Votes already cast. PlayStation Blog readers made it their Players' Choice for October 2026, in a result posted on Nov 11. At the Golden Joystick Awards the same day it was one of the 12 games in the public vote for Ultimate Game of the Year and lost to Resident Evil Requiem, having been nominated in no other category.

That last pair is the honest picture of where it stands: first among one month's releases, and not first among the year's.

Where we think it lands

Last year's Best Action Game list was Battlefield 6, Doom: The Dark Ages, Hades II, Ninja Gaiden 4 and Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, by Game Informer's copy of the nominees. Two of the five are fast melee games built on parries and combos, which is the shelf Phantom Blade Zero sits on, so we do not expect the jury to file it under role-playing.

We think Phantom Blade Zero receives at least three nominations at The Game Awards 2026, with Best Action Game one of them.

Confidence: Possible. Check by: Nov 30, 2026.

Why we think so: an 88 average from 85 critics is above what a genre category asks for, the reviews single out its combat, its look and its sound (Reception and Previews), which map to Best Action Game, Best Art Direction and one of the two audio categories, and five slots per category leave room when a jury of more than 100 outlets spreads its ballots. What holds it back is the field: Grand Theft Auto 6 and Resident Evil Requiem, which has already beaten it in one public vote, are on the same ballots, and our earlier call on Predictions, Best Action Game yes and Game of the Year no, still stands. What would prove us wrong: fewer than three nominations when the list is published, or no Best Action Game nomination among them.